Guild Wars 2

UO, EQ, EQ2, WOW, CoH/CoV, Aion, AOC, PotBS, DDO, CO, STO, SWTOR, Vanguard, TSW, GW + of course GW2.

My gaming history predates personal computers and started with skirmish wargaming and pen-paper RPGs (mostly Runequest and Chivalry and Sorcery) I played pong when it first came out. My first PC was my Apple IIe back in the late 70s. I’ve bought every game I ever took a fancy to along the years.

I was both happy and satisfied with GW2 from the moment I first played it. Stopped playing the moment this patch of the 15th came out and will not play again unless that patch is reverted, if it isn’t I’ll ask for a refund. I can live with bugs in a new game, they all have them. I can live with the early class balance dancing that occurs too. Those are normal MMO teething issues. What I can’t live with is a complete reversal in the games stated governing principals.

I’m just waiting for Anet to state emphatically what their plans are concerning adherence to their manifesto. If they continue with what they have done I’ll simply get my money back and wish all the folks staying good luck.

I wouldn’t have bought the game had it not been for the Manifesto. I dislike the changes but maybe could have lived with them had I not been lied to during the pre launch marketing phase of this game.

So I would like to ask:
1. Who here, still come to forums but play the game much less?
- I check the forums now once or twice a day to see if there is any news on the “prohibited” subject. Since the “prohibited” issue was patched in I’ve logged in just a few times to say farewell to a few friends.

2. When did you start playing less?
-The day of the patch.

3. Why / What caused the decline in time spent?
-The “prohibited” issue contained within the patch. I’ve had experiences with this issue in other games and won’t waste time building characters that become obsolete due to a vertical progression feature. I hope they change their minds, but I am looking for a new game now as it seems that that is unlikely.

Nope, didn’t and wouldn’t now.

I had plans to give GW2 as christmas presents, but the sudden change to the game has me perplexed. They added gear creap, additional grind, and turned Lions Arch into a lobby. That is contrary to their Manifesto and other stated goals from pre-release, contrary to what I was looking for in a game, and IMHO just plain old not fun.

This past event shows as plain as the nose on my face where their real issues lie, in fixing their game so that culling doesn’t wreck ones playing experience. Lag is not fun by the way. Game content that one can never play due to having a job, living in the wrong time zone, or having a life that conflicts with the game is not fun either, it is exclusionary.

I may be an oddball, but I have a powerful dislike for instanced dungeons. I don’t like them here, there, or anywhere. I just loved the open world game before you made it pointless as I can’t compete in your new gear threshold (which I fear will in fact be required gear regardless of your asertions that it won’t- not buying it – seen it before – not fooling me twice). That the additions were rolled out with only one outlet, one I already hate, does not entice me to play, to recomend, to spend in their cash shop, or to buy the game as gifts. So I won’t be a player and customer having his fun standing in your lobby spending half his line getting a group and the other half grinding the same instanced content over and over.

How after just 60 seconds of lag at the start they drove me to log out for the duration of the event!

It was not Fun. The lag effected the whole game making playing outside the event frustrating. Not FUN at all.

I found my experience to be funny in an ironic sense. Ha ha. See I’m laughing!

Another night of needed sleep has passed, work is over now and I’m still very upset over this. I’m no longer Irate.

I’m still mad though and intent on leaving and getting a full refund if they decide to continue with this course. I’ll still make formal complaints of bait-and-switch with the appropriate authorities as this behavior disgusts me and IMHO neeeds to punished in any business that scams its customers.

I keep looking for a response from Anet over this and find absolutely nothing. Ok. Maybe today as the start of the work week for them they need time to digest our response. Hopefully tomorrow they’ll have something to say but I’m not holding my breath.

So sad…

Ranger.

Everyone says it underperforms but somehow I muddled through to 80.

Why? I don’t know, I’m drawn to rangers in every game I play. I guess I like pets. Maybe I was over effected by Robin Hood movies as a youth (Who wouldn’t like a man in tights?). It can’t be the emphasis on bows, nah my warrior outperforms on a longbow. I don’t really know why but Rangers are cool.

how hard would it be to create a token to mail to each character that allows a one time access to an instanced version of these events that is accessable over the course of a reasonable period of time, lets say 2 weeks?

It’d still be a one time experience for the player and customers from different time zones and with different daily schedules and responsibilities could still participate.

The entire concept of trying to reset precursor availibility with a time/access restrictive lottery was a stupid idea. Were you trying to add gasoline to an already raging fire?

Why not instead just have a lottery via the in game mail that gives equal chance to get precursors to every account?

Way to go in addressing the have/have-not issue in a fair manner Anet.

To the OP.

You didn’t pay for my account, you are not my boss, stop issuing me commands!

in other words, GET STUFFED!

Nothing about this event was fun in my book.

Customers who were left out due to its arbitrary time window didn’t have fun and being left out engenders a sense or loss and anger. Not a smart move.

Using this as a mechanism to distribute precursors – absolutely stupid idea. Why not instead send each account a random box to distribute this chance at instant gratification?

Everything about this patch and event is flawed.

Does anyone in the Dev side play devils advocate and look to those left out when designing these things? I thought creative types were supposed to have better developed left brain connections and see negative space better.

kKagari.6804:

Ferguson.2157:

None of us will ever know unless Anet tells us.

I’d be surprised if they are not taking metrics of our behavior and opinions. They aren’t idiots, we don’t know what pressures or issues are motivating them to change course.

All I know is it’s unsettling and disappointing to me to the point of desiring a full refund. Some of my in game friends share my opinion others don’t. I just wish Anet would detail their plans so I can make an informed decision about my future with this game.

That’s only speculative currently, with this new patch its really hard to tell at this point.

I like to think there is a diference between inteligence and wisdom.

This is their product, livelyhood and they are the professionals. I know nothing about the innerworkings of software, and I’m loath to trust the opinions of unknow folks posting in a game forum.

I think whoever is calling the shots re the promotion of the game vs current reality is deceitful at best and a crook at worst, but I won’t use a broad brush to paint all of the employees.

I’m very upset.

I have almost no info as to their intent or reasons for doing what they are doing. They treated me well and in a stand-up way for many years in Guild Wars.

They need to inform us of their plans. If they don’t before my return window closes I’ll refund my purchase. If they do and I can live with their plans for the game I may stay.

I absolutely hate being kept in the dark. It’s bad business to treat customers this way, but I don’t know who is calling the shots. Anet, NCSoft, or Nexon – somewhere someone is making this decision and I just want to know why and what the plan is or if everything will be in flux – I need information.

None of us will ever know unless Anet tells us.

I’d be surprised if they are not taking metrics of our behavior and opinions. They aren’t idiots, we don’t know what pressures or issues are motivating them to change course.

All I know is it’s unsettling and disappointing to me to the point of desiring a full refund. Some of my in game friends share my opinion others don’t. I just wish Anet would detail their plans so I can make an informed decision about my future with this game.

Lt Latency.7415:

Ballistic.4531:

Lt Latency.7415:

Forum posters are the minority not the majority.

How do you know this? I would love if people actually were backing up their claims with some kind of evidence. Not even hard evidence. Anything would suffice, just as long it’s not completely made up.
We don’t know if forum people are a minority or a majority.
So please stop quoting this as a hard fact.

This thread has about 100k posts. GW2 sold over 2 million copies.

Even if every single post was a unique person which it’s not even close to being. We need ALOT more posts.

More like 10304 with your post.

I’m against this ascended move, but there is no reason to lie or exagerate.

It sure would be nice to know this from a Dev that way we can act with reason about what their intent for the game in fact is.

This silence from Anet is quite disturbing. If I don’t hear from Anet what their plans are for this game within my window for refund I will presume the worst of them and get a refund and leave.

I’ll go back to my lifetime subs to TSW and CO, check to see if PotBS is still running, and revisit my long dormant DDO account.

XCOM Enemy Unknown just arrived in the post yesterday to help fill the void as well.

Ascended armor is a deal breaker for me. I believe in the tenants expressed in your Manifesto and other pre-release interviews, advertising, and product discription. This game is no longer the product you sold me. If it is not reverted back I will ask for a refund.

Event part 1 – laggy nightmare ending in DC – not fun
Event part 2 – Bugged out NPCs – not fun waste of time
Event later parts – Avoided at all costs but lag generated messed me up in other zones – not fun

I can’t speak to the class changes to much – what little I was on was on my 80 Warrior who seemed to play fine. I didn’t play my 80 Thief or 80 Ranger as my experience with game performance was so bad or I was so upset over the ascended armor fiasco to log onto them after my Warrior.

I didn’t participate in the new dungeon as I dislike playing dungeons, so no coment.

I didn’t participate is sPvP, so no coment on the new map.

I did spend some time in Orr and the drops there have taken a turn for the worse.

From what I’ve experienced and seen of this patch I’d say this warrants an “F” grade. FAILURE

Logun.2349:

Don’t worry I’m sure by next month the client will not have a problem rendering players

Thanks for that bit of humor. I need a good laugh today.

Well I spent about $700 since launch until I got wind of these changes. Anet, NCSoft, and this Nexon will never get another cent from me!

I wonder if their new playerbase will be as generous with their cash as I was. I went out of my way to buy gems as I supported the lies they sold me in their manifesto and wanted a game along those lines to play for seven years or more like I did the original Guild Wars game.

Time to ask for a refund of all that money – for the game and the gems!

I don’t like being lied to, their marketers are running a bait-and-switch scam. I’ve already made formal complaints to the govt agencies who police business practices at state and federal level and I hope they get some nice big fines for their efforts to defraud me.

The product that was advertised not one that is the opposite of what they claimed to be selling me! (Fraud/Bait-and-switch/Scam)

Oh, and if you were a good customer you would have spent more than the game price by buying gems too. This game for me has been about three times more expensive than my previous sub based games. I was fine with that, in fact I bought gems to support what they implied they were attempting to do in all their ads and pre-release statements. (False advertising)

No more will I be a customer of theirs. My wallet has officially closed. As soon as I make contact with a few friends in game to say farewell I’ll be asking for my refund and deleting this game which had held such promise in my eyes. (I’m irate)

Logun.2349:

If you got this far and are curious about the title of this post that’s how the bait and shift works when you advertise one thing and deliver something unexpected.

Nicely stated/demonstrated!

Maybe by naming their gating method “agony” they were trying to comunicate to the outside world?

You’ll get some in your personal story. They had two you could get in the Halloween event. Now you can get them at the ascended tier I’ve read. That’s all I know of.

Edit – Forgot one – the guild armorer has a backpack too

Plague.5329:

Ferguson.2157:

TSW is a fun horizontal skill growth game. In many ways it reminds me of GW1 in that one expands one skills to build a deck to develop synergies. The game is about skill build development.

The one thing that is problematic for me in TSW is the milieu is a bit too dark for my tastes.

Ack, I can never win it seems with MMO selection.

You may want to mention what TSW stands for.

The Secret World

TSW is a fun horizontal skill growth game. In many ways it reminds me of GW1 in that one expands one skills to build a deck to develop synergies. The game is about skill build development.

The one thing that is problematic for me in TSW is the milieu is a bit too dark for my tastes.

Ack, I can never win it seems with MMO selection.

Ansultares.1567:

Neilos Tyrhanos.5427:

People are not going to be requesting players have ascended gear. I will bet you anything. To assume a ‘gear treadmill’ is premature.

They will be when its mandatory for the content.

You know, because that’s the explicit purpose for the gear in the first place; to gate additional content.

Ain’t that the truth. Such a shame…

TheUnNamedHero.4167:

Putting Halo into my xbox as I write. Not fun Anet.

And I’m back to playing XCOM.

Not fun at all.

As it was used in marketing this game to me, and the primary reason I purchased this game and many gems I’d only forgive them if they had said something like, “Hey customers, our plans are changing. We are changing direction. Those who purchased the promised product may apply for a full refund with our apologies for not being able to deliver on our promises.” at the time the decision was made to start work on this change.

That is only if that decision was made after they sold me this game. If they had already made that decision prior to selling it to me and lied in their ads they are crooks.

As they made no real effort to notify their customers of this change in a timely way I will always think of this firm and all it’s employees as deceivers and liars. I will never spend another cent of my mony on any of their products or services ever. (Please don’t attempt to tell me a leaked bit of info mere days before the patch preceeded the development of this patch.)

The cats out of the bag for me. They can’t recover my trust ever again. They can be stand up and revert to the service I paid for or offer a refund of my nearly $700 I spent based on their lies. Their refund page says they won’t refund the gems that have been used.

I’m curious if their bean counters track customer sentiment just by account or by cash spent and weigh their marketing and game direction that way. Oh well they lost the continuing support of this avid gamer and his wallet.

Togashi Jack.9531:

Reduce Ascended Gear stats to Exotic Equivalent and give Exotic equipment Infusion slots as well. Change method of acquiring precursors. Honestly I’m surprised that they cited players hitting a legendary wall and quitting and didn’t address that wall at all.

This plus a crow eating apology for lying to me prior to my game purchase and trying to deceive us by not notifying us of their intended abandonment of their manifesto the moment the decision was made to go ahead with building this monstrosity of a patch might do the trick (If I can mange to cool off some over then next few days).

I’ll find out I suppose. Their 180 on their manifesto seems to fit my sates Bait-and-switch laws. I’ll know when the AGs office gets back to me.

US Justice Dept recently litigated Bioware over ME ending – but lost as courts allowed a level of puffery. This 180 in my mind is much greater than that exageration on Biowares ads. That litigation happened because one customer felt he had been riped off and made a formal complaint.

It may not work, but I feel like a victim of fraud and need to fight back with the tools our legal system has. It may do nothing but then again..

LadenSwallow.1468:

Waffler.1257:

LadenSwallow.1468:

To those saying they want to hit ANet in their wallets:

https://en.support.guildwars2.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9053/kw/refund

I have already filed my ticket.

I tried, but I was stupid enough to pre-order the game, so they told me I was out of the 6 month window for refunds.

In that case I would try and find something equivalent to a small claims court, as you must have paid for goods and not received them for more than 4 months, yet they are claiming this as part of your time with the product?

Try going to your state atorney generals website and file a complaint for a bait and switch. Bait-and-switch frauds are illegal, Anet may get fined.

The US Justice Dept also goes after bait-and-switch fraudsters.

Game is unplayable for me now with this event. Most lag-filled thing I’ve ever experienced and I came here from the disaster that is SWTOR.

My formerly nimble thief when out of combat moves like he is swimming in molasses. Only my no. 1 skill fires off, but only an the 4th or 5th click. No auto attack functionality, Friends and foes are not rendering.

The game is broken. This is not fun. This is just frustrating!

The lag is horendous. Game is unplayable in its current state.

You are just missing a huge lagtastic unplayable event. Count yourself lucky.

Lagtastic! Foes and players not rendering. Controls sluggish and unresponsive. My no 1 attack only triggering manually 25% of the time when I hit it.

Game is broken. Most lagtastic experience of my life. NOT fun. Very frustrating.

This experience isn’t what I play games for. I won’t subject myself to this kind of time wasting frustration. Fix your bloody game Anet!

UBeMine.4267:

@Juneau.6095:
/subscribe

If this update had come two weeks ago I would not have bought the game. If I want item grind, I can play any other MMO. I bought and installed GW2 as a non-grind based RPG. I wanted an alternative to all the other MMOs where you know there is item progression and you will have to grind like mad for top equip, just to grind even more after the next content update which brings even better whoppie-doo gear.
Actually, I do play such a grind based MMO – Age of Conan.
I bought GW2 as an alternative to AoC where I can play a little, get max-gear within a rather short ammount of time, get a break whenever I want to and come back without losing anything. Because, hey – I got those epic items from a couple of months ago, and there is no “better” stuff and never will be. THIS is why I played GW1 for six years, including two longer breaks. But whenever I came back I was no weaker then all the people who had played 24/7 for the last months. They just had the rare skins while I was running around with collector and green stuff.

Now, that GW2 obviously stands for Grind Wars 2, I don’t see any reason why I should continue playing it. I don’t want another grind based title, that’s what I got AoC for (and to be honest, as an MMO AoC beats GW2 by far). I wanted a game which I can play casually or intensive without having any disadvantages. GW2 is no longer this game.

How about NCSoft offering all those players who now feel cheated to refund the money we payed for the game when we trusted the “no item progression – no grinding” promise?

I’d like to see not only the games purchase price refunded but also all monies spent in their cash shop as well! I bought all that while believing their promises in their promotion of this game were true. It was a fraud now all along it seems.

My patch feedback is in that big long thread.

The only silver lining I can find at all in this cloud is that at least Anet showed their true colors relatively quickly with regard to this game. I’m glad I discovered that before I’d invested a year or more into this formerly promising now rubish game of theirs.

xtorma.1283:

When these guys sit down at meetings , thier first concern is always going to be revenue. Cosmetic progression most probably was not bringing in the revenue they had hoped. Those people up top at areananet are not judged on how much fun you are having. You could see this quite clearly in wow, where they dumbed down the game to cater to the wider revenue stream.

Bottomline is , promises in business last only as long as the profits. Anyone who thinks they won’t add another tier of gear if they feel it will raise profits, is not being realistic. It does not matter an iota to them who leaves the game, as long as the margins are there.

They have bet on the fact that this will raise revenue, and the losses to population will be offset by more frequent purchases from the store to aquire the new gear. they absolutly knew going in they would lose players.

Good, thay can count this fool who in just two monts has spent around $700 out! I hope they enjoy my attempt to recoup my money spent for running a bait and switch fraud. The forms have already been filled out at my states AGs web portal!

edit to add – A promise made by a business in its advertising and promoting a product or service constitutes a contract when that product or service is sold. That has bearing in law. My states business and professions code prohibits this type of bait and switch activity with penalies ranging from fines to criminal sanctions. If I can’t get traction at state level I’ll also file a complaint at the FTC. Bait and switch tactics are also regulated by the federal government.

An issue such as this was recently taken to federal court by the US Govt. That suit lost, but the advertising promises were much more vague that this blatent 180 degree change that has just been foisted on us. I just hope at some level an Attorney Generals office wants to sink its teeth into this. This is much greater than the puffery in ads that Bioware had to litigate.

Zero

I’m not going to inflict this on a friend.

I don’t see how they can reconcile their promotion of this game and their manifesto with this patch.

I’ve just looked into my states consumer protection laws and I think it may give me leverage to get both my purchase expenses and my gem expenses back as the fine that most likely will be imposed on them is greater than I’ve spent on this game so far. their advertisments, site claims, and promotional videos are all totally contrary to what they have just introduced.

Bait and switch here is also not just a civil violation but can also a criminal violation. Time to file a complaint with the state!

with this new patch it might as well be “One hundred bottles of beer on the wall”

repetitous and pointless song

pjdct.8176:

Live Q&A with Lead Designer Isaiah Cartwright at 6 Eastern

http://kotaku.com/5960951/the-lead-designer-of-guild-wars-2-is-answering-your-questions-right-now

I saw one “hard” question come up – the third question – it was magically deleted and unanswered.

This is all just a PR sales snowjob interview.

Flynch.6034:

To be honest their intention at the moment may be completely pure and they genuinely have no plans or reason to implement a further tier. But if they launch an expansion in a year’s time and it has some more gear in it with a difference in stats, then being explicitly ambiguous about it is their back-up. Can’t blame them really.

I won’t tolerate willfull deception for any reason from a company that wants my business.

I can deal with plans being changed, if I’m told of it in a timely manner. Changing plans that are contrary to what one has told ones customers and remaining quiet about it is wrong, rude, and dishonest. Some folks live in areas where it is also illegal under civil law (I wish I lived in one). Here’s hoping that they get some huge fines imposed on them to correct this moral deficiency of lying to customers.

stof.9341:

Flynch.6034:

Looks very interesting indeed. Google translate butchers it, but it looks like they know what they’re doing, or at least are very aware of the audience.

Disappointing. No info about a compensation for the players that lost time and money in obsolete gear. Confirmation that they will NOT say Ascended is the last because they might want to make another level later …

add in obsolete recipe purchases for karma that wouldn’t have been made. This chage so early in the game negates the value expenditures almost completely on my characters – expenditures of time invested, dollars/gems for transmute stones, crafting materials.

It’s just not a loss in value of the gear its self.

This is a cheap shot by Anet. It undercuts everything. It’s contrary to what they said to sell me the game. The Manifesto was a lie, a deception, and bait for this bait-and-switch.

The creation of this disaster was deceptively hidden from us as well ovetr the course of the live game while itwas being developed. They are remaining quiet except for a few PR pieces with language that is unspecific and deceptive.

Anet has demonstrated zero transparency to their customers! What they have said is untrue at best a fraud at worst.

Rhyaehar.9504:

Loosifah.4739:

I can tell you now they’re not going to scrap Ascension gear and infusions. It won’t be added in sPvP and tPvP, but it’s coming.

So you guys have 2 choices.

a> grin and bear it, and hope they keep their word about no gear treadmill

or

b> leave and if you’re from europe try to get a refund after 600+ hours(which I think is stupid that you can do that).

Stupid?
Do be careful where you step, we’re actually quote proud of our consumer law.

But okay, I agree full refund after 3 months of play seems unfair.
How long would I play? If for 7.5 years, Id pay 10eur a year, no expansions included. Seems long, lets make it 3 years 9 months for 20eur a year. This means 5eur for 3 months – sure, I’ll take only my 70eur back.

Why?
Because I purchased a long-term service but the terms were changed significantly and pretty soon. Actually, I’m really happy I live in a place where law offers me protection from companies who think they can do whatever they can after the payment has been issued. I think it’s only fair.

I so wish that were the case in the US. The levels of fraud, lying and deceit among the entrepreneurs running businesses these days is alarming.

- signed, one grumpy old man

Razamis.1062:

I can’t believe anyone would drop money in this game for gems. You get everything you need just from playing the game, there is absolutely no reason to buy gems.

If you are dropping $50/month into this game when it isn’t needed, perhaps you should give some of that wasted money to charity.

I find it sick how some players can proudly boast how much they spend in the gem store. Like most players, I haven’t spent a dime in the gem store and never intend to.

So you like being judgemental and telling others what to do with their money much?

I used my big pile of gems to upgrade to deluxe, buy 8 more char slots, open all bag and bank slots, and enjoy a few costumes. Games are my entertainment. This game in its total expense for me has cost less than a few dinners out at a nice restraunt. Did you buy the most inexpensive used car you could find and give the savings from that purchase to charity? Filling my gas tank these days costs me over $100 (big tank/high cost area). Most of us who live in the western world have expenses that are so frivolous it’s crazy if compared to the needy of the planet.

It is all well within my budget. I don’t smoke, drink booze, drive 500 miles a week burning gas unneeded. I live a very frugal lifestyle except for my fun gaming hobby (is it a vice, that’d be cool I need one) Who’s to say whose bloated budget is sicker?

Do you spend over $100 a month on cable TV? on movies? on ice creams? on anything frivolous (i.e. not food or shelter)? – if so you make me sick for being a hypocrite. If not it’s still none of your business!

Why not post your charitable givings so far this year along with your anual earmings so we can see what % you give to demonstrate to us all how superior you really are? Tell us of your volunteer efforts too while you are at it. Served in yours countries military at all in times of natural disaster or war – tell us. Ever saved someones life – please do tell. To most adults $50 in entertainment expense is chump change and I for one will not allow your sense of outrage at a laughably small expenditure bother me one iota.

For just spending the money needed to buy this game and have a computer and internet service let alone electricity in your dwelling you have allowed dozens of children to starve! (That’s all BS – but the OP has no grounds for complaint at all as they have spent cash on fun not food for the poor as well)

I’m not buying this moral superiority crap at all! Good day sir or mam.

Manifesto? More like the bait for their bait-and-switch!

They need to to lay out in simple unambiguous plain english what their plans are for gear so we can see if their manifesto was worth the electrons used to display it.

They have little credibility now so I’d like to see this answer/plan of theirs posted as a sticky for all to see and be used as a benchmark for years to come if they expect me to remain a customer.

(check my acct purchase history for thes past 2 months Anet – I’m one of those unusual [perhaps crazy too] customers who dumps money in things I like. Violate your manifesto and I’m gone with all my money.)

I to desire an answer to this as well.

That answer will allow me to determine if I stay or cut my losses and leave.

What is happening is not what I signed on for and to my eye is contrary to the manifesto this game touted. I feel I’ve been given the bait-and-switch treatment.

I have 3 80s with almost complete exotics. Will I be reimbursed for my expenditures for level 80 transmute gems I used to get my armors up to snuff?

Why the secrecy behind this change? It reeks of deception!

Any Anet folks want to see what kind of asset they may be losing – run my accounts spending history from the gem shop. This fiasco has really upset me.

Please live up to your word as expressed in your manifesto and numerous interviews used to market this game!

signed, one seriously disappointed customer

Omega Mayhem.7163:

Why we don’t care you are leaving…

We don’t care.

Actually some of us do.

I to desire an answer to this.

That answer will allow me to determine if I stay or cut my losses and leave.

What is happening is not what I signed on for and to my eye is contrary to the manifesto this game touted. I feel I’ve been given the bait-and-switch treatment.

I have 3 80s with almost complete exotics. Will I be reimbursed for my expenditures for level 80 transmute gems I used to get my armors up to snuff?

Why the secrecy behind this change? It reeks of deception!

Any Anet folks want to see what kind of asset they may be losing – run my accounts spending history from the gem shop. This fiasco has really upset me.

Please live up to your word as expressed in your manifesto and numerous interviews used to market this game!

signed, one seriously disappointed customer

I’d check the Ranger forums under Professions.